School Days – Octagonal School in Ranolph Illinois

The octagonal school or Charter Oak School in Randolph County, Illinois is now a historical landmark. Built in 1873 it was the third school built in the area and apparently my ancestor had a hand in it’s building. A family history written by a cousin contains the following: “[John Weir] was a very determined and strict person. In Illinois he had succeeded in influencing the school board to build an eight-sided school house, with the teacher’s desk in the center, his theory being that she might see all the students.” John Weir was my 3x great grandfather and father to Thomas Clark Weir, who I wrote about earlier this year. Thomas and his future wife, Clem Boyd, likely attended school in the school house and my family has several photos of the school as seen below: